My original intended audience for Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness was college freshmen. Whenever I told my story early on however, I consistently heard, "high school kids need to hear this." I then dialed it back to high school juniors. About that time I began to learn about unschooling. Unschoolers were already practicing a part of my methodology. Of all the groups out there, they would be the most likely to get it. Although I support unschooling one-hundred percent, for whatever reason I didn't soley lock in on them. Time went by and between this site and the Facebook page, I was having a difficult time connecting my message with young adults and for that matter really, I connected with very few people.
I was discussing my endeavors with Carol Ross a few months ago and she stated what really should have been the obvious for me, "your total market is less than two percent of the young adult population." Meaning this is the segment of young adults who would embrace my philosophy and run with it. Actually this was a quiet, driving force behind the whole project. Quiet to my thick skull that is. The whole premise has always been - so few young people would follow this that they would indeed stand out from their peers! I just hadn't emphasized this perspective much, if at all.
Even if I'd shouted that point out however, I still wouldn't have done much better. You see, I am not a young person person. These are the type of people who can walk into a room of K-16 youngsters-to-young adults, and in an unforced and natural way, be one of them in a New York minute. It's a gift that I've had first hand witness to for thirty-eight years. My wife Rosemary is a young person person. This gift does not come naturally to me. I understand it on an intellectual level. I put on my young person social face and attempt to relate. But it requires a tremendous amount of energy and I still can't connect at the level that makes kids feel comfortable.
The thing is, because I had such a mind-numbing horrific time trying to figure out my career path, which in no uncertain terms led to my disease, I very much care about getting the word out to young adults. So I've decided to change my primary target audience to Baby Boomers. The general process of exploring paths of interest, connecting with people of influence, cultivating those relationships and standing out from one's peers applies to all generations. It's my hope that by providing these types of resources, information and knowledge to Boomers, they in turn will teach and mentor younger generations.
